A team of divers has confirmed the discovery of a WWII-era B-24 Liberator bomber that crashed into Gander Lake after take-off in September of 1943.

The effort, supported by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Ocean Quest and the Shipwreck Preservation Society, used state-of-the-art underwater imaging equipment and a dive team from Canada, the US and France.

A survey dive took place on Monday and video and images from the site confirmed an earlier 3D sonar scan from July of 2022.

For the last nine years, diver and researcher Tony Merkle has been trying to confirm the location of the crash site.

Merkle says he’s never dived on a plane before and it means a lot to him to be able to share that part of Newfoundland history.